The Grenada gazette., 1887-11-19

W" fIlat Wanted 10 GO into a Battle.
cole Bennett was a member of Co.
r 18th Miss, Infantry. Cole is Sc
4 the land ofthe living; and be Is
sIever fellow. Cole owned, anon,
great many other colored people
u old negro by the name Of Dave
vho cooked for him In the army
nave was q character. He was al
Mack az charred stump and as pug.
uaceous among his celored bttthere,
= ! bear with . sore ila IN u 1A AZ
couut OF his blackness and othel
,uggestive qualities he was called
the "Black Bar"
Woe to the young negro or the
dandy negro that offended Dave, for
tbe Bear was sort of cock-of-the-
walk, hull-nf-the-woods fellow, in
fact he was q kind of King David
throughout the Brigade. In him
combatitiveness seemed abnormalIy
developed, it certainly was develop
ed to high degree. He had a fist
as big as a ham Of bacon and foot
some eighteen inches long, and with
these natural weapons David was
the terror of the camp among the
colored cooks.
David was a Southern negro-he
was loyal to the Sohth, to the 18th
Miss, to Co. E., and to his young
master. He hated the yankees and
be wanted to slay them all He was
forever and eternaly ding-donging at
bis "Marse" Coley to let him go into
. battle, 'just let me-just let de
Black Bar get at dem dam yankees
Marse Coley, wild a gun, please let
ole Dave git into battle long wild
you Marse Coley and long wild Marse
John King and Marse Lewis Maiet !
and Marse John Jordon and Compa-
ny e. ginerally an TIL show you
white gentlemen how ole Dave can
keel 'em over.n "Marse Judge you
suade Marse Coley to let de Black
Bar go intoj jist one battle and help
his young masters give dem yankees
I'D particular---de Bar wants to try
lis han, de Bar wants to get at dem
lue-bellied devils just to show what
spectacle soldier dis cullud pusson
ould make" Thus Dave was talking
me and again.
The negroes stood in awe of him,
9 was regarded as prodigy, hero,
sort of "hoss in the canen by his
Dlored bretheren, and we white boys
ad begun to think that Dave was as
old as q lion and would be as fierce {
| a battle as a Bengal tiger.
Thus matters stood at the battle
Corinth. When we went to c
ght that battle there was camp G
cooks established at Chewalla, a |
tile place six or seven miles west Of c
orinth. David, the Black Bar, was a
nong the cooks and chief Of the c
ack ones, overbearing and tyranic- t
, handy with his natural weapons 5
ID busy with histongue that he gen f,
ally brought in as reserve corps. \
Well we went in the first day and I
r Brigade did considerable fight D
9, in which the 9th, Ark. and 22d D
proved their good quail il
s. The "Lady Richardson" a
mon was captured, the yankees e.
re pushed back and at night we G
Id the field.
The cooks at Chewalla put our
oked rations on wagons that 4
yht, and sent them to US as we y
od in the line of battle. Along with .
, ration wagons was the redoubt- a.
10 David, the ponderous Black -
r, about to get on battle neld at y
I. He was along bringing his p
rise Coley's mess their victuals, oe
. kind Of bag or pillow-slip on top - -
wagon load of boxes, baskets VI
bundles. ~
he Wagons had reached a point se
ee quarters of q mile in our rear, a.
'oint over which we had fought =,
t day, but the cooks and wagon ~
did not know that they were on =
battlefield. ~
t q sideling place David's bag OF =.
ked victuals rolled off the wag- :"
and went tumbling down the hill oe
> the bushes, David saw the sack W
and followed 1t, 1t was dark and
Bar begun to feel around for the M
!, he patted the ground with his K
why black hands thinking thus de
trike the sack Of victuals, directly Tr
N came Dawes hand in the face at
dead yankee-David felt about
enough to find that 1t was q
/. : =. Innl and